User blog:Laquearius/Black Widow (Earth-616) vs Quiet (Metal Gear)
Sometimes, the greatest heroes start off as villains. Such characters often begin their stories with designs to bring the heroes to their knees, but instead we watch as they rise above their evil origins and find new purpose, using their skills and abilities for the side of good, while still treading a fine line between their new allegiances and the brutality of their old ways. Two examples of this are the Black Widow, the Soviet super spy who was freed from brainwashing and joined the Avengers, and Quiet, the XOF assassin who put aside vengeance to aid the Diamond Dogs! Let's find out which one of these redeemed assassins is DEADLIEST! Black Widow Natalia Romanova, anglicized as Natasha Romanoff, was born in the Soviet Union in 1928. Orphaned at a young age, she was adopted by a soldier named Ivan Petrovich. Petrovich taught Romanoff self-defense, and upon realizing her natural talent for combat, admitted her into a top secret KGB program called the Black Widow Ops. In the program's "Red Room", Romanoff was brutally trained, bio-technologically enhanced, and brainwashed with the goal of molding her into a deadly assassin. As the program's most successful agent, she was appointed as the Black Widow. Romanoff's missions in the United States brought her into conflict with the various members of the Avengers, one of which, Hawkeye, helped to break her brainwashing. Romanoff chose to defect and joined SHIELD, becoming an member of the Avengers. At the time of writing, Natasha is dead, having been killed by yet another evil version of Captain America at the end of Secret Empire, and the mantle of Black Widow has been taken up by her clone... but we all know that it's just a matter of time before she gets better. |-|Equipment= BlackWidowBiteSchematic.jpg BlackWidowKiss.jpg BlackWidowBite.jpg BlackWidowP229.png BlackWidowCostume.jpg Black Widow Gauntlets: 'Natasha wears a pair of gauntlets that contain a variety of useful tools, including small explosives, tear gas pellets, a tracking device, a switchblade, a spring-loaded retractable grappling hook, and: *'Widow's Kiss: 'Created by the Spetsnaz, the Widow's Kiss is an instant knock-out drug that can be sprayed in aerosol form, appearing as pinkish fumes. The drug can keep the average person unconscious for over twenty-four hours. *'Widow's Bite: 'The gauntlets can release powerful electrostatic charges of up to 30,000 volts. These charges can also be delivered from range in the form of percussive energy blasts, which have a range of about 20 feet. The voltage level can be manually adjusted. '''SIG Sauer P229: '''Natasha generally doesn't like using guns, because of their noise and limited ammunition, so unless she's preparing for a mission that specifically requires heavier firearms, she'll usually be going in with minimal firepower. One of her more favored guns is the P229, which comes with a 15-round magazine of 9x19mm rounds. Interestingly, despite disliking how loud gunshots are, Natasha only started using a silencer in the more recent issues, but her P229 will be equipped with one in this battle. '''Suit: '''Natasha's custom-made suit is made of a synthetic stretch fabric that is abnormally resistant to small arms fire. There are also microscopic suction cups built into the soles and the gloves that allows the wearer to climb on walls and ceilings. The belt is made up of metallic disks which are actually containers for a variety of explosives. |-|Abilities= BlackWidowBulletDodging.jpg BlackWidowSmashConcreteSlam.jpg BlackWidowGrenadeTank.jpg WidowBeats100Men.jpg WidowSnipesHawkeyeBow.jpg '''Superhuman Physicality: '''As part of her training in the Red Room, Natasha was injected with the Soviet Union's version of the Super-Soldier Serum. Although it wasn't nearly as effective as the original, it still turned Natasha into a very impressive athlete. Reacting to bullets is a second nature for her, even when they're fired by famously skilled marksmen, like the Punisher. She can hit hard enough to crack concrete, break a man's neck with a single kick, and run at thirty-six miles per hour. But her most impressive superhuman stat is easily her durability. Superhuman blows, long falls, explosions, and gunshots are all among the things she has walked away from. She even once went through a major surgery without any anesthesia, which is a remarkable feat of pain tolerance. '''Master Martial Artist: '''Her brutal training in the Black Widow Ops and her tutelage under Wolverine made Natasha into an extremely skilled hand-to-hand combatant. She has mastered judo, aikido, sambo, boxing, and savate, and has used her skills to bring down huge groups of assassins and soldiers at once. Her skills have also been tested against other superhumans. Hawkeye, Lady Bullseye, and the Punisher are among the opponents she has defeated. '''Master Markswoman: '''As expected of a master assassin, Natasha is capable of some nigh-superhuman feats of accuracy with all kinds of weapons, including sniper rifles, pistols, knives, darts, and even Hawkeye's signature weapon, the bow. Her most impressive feats of marksmanship might come from a time she tried to stop Hawkeye from assassinating a target, which involved her cutting Hawkeye's bowstring with a sniper rifle and shooting a thin cable with a pistol ''while she was on a moving motorcycle. '''Master Spy: '''Obviously, as a former KGB assassin, Natasha knows all the tricks of the spy trade, including stealth, infiltration, and espionage. Her talent for spywork enabled her to become the top agent in the Red Room and one of SHIELD's highest ranking agents. Quiet The woman who would come to be known as '''Quiet was initially an assassin in employ of Skull Face, the leader of XOF. In 1984, she was sent on a mission to assassinate Big Boss, which failed, and Quiet was left badly burned and on the verge of death. By infecting her with a species of parasite known as "the one that covers", XOF saved Quiet's life and turned her into a unique form of "Skull" with several abilities, one of which was superhuman perception. These abilities made her the perfect sniper, and XOF let her loose in Afghanistan to eliminate Soviet officers who opposed XOF's goals. She came into conflict with Venom Snake, the man who Big Boss had set up to temporarily take his identity and serve as his body double, but was defeated by him and brought back to Snake's mercenary group, Diamond Dogs. Shocked by the mercy Snake showed her, and gradually falling in love with him, she agreed to fight with him, and became one of his closest allies. |-|Equipment= MGS5WickedButterfly.jpg AM114MGS5.jpg FlashbangAndM67.jpg MGS5QuietKnife.JPG Wicked Butterfly: 'Quiet's favored firearm is the Renov-ICKX, which is based off the real world Vz. 54, a more modern iteration of the Mosin Nagant. Her personal Renov, nicknamed Wicked Butterfly, was personally customized by Quiet to her preferred specifications. Among other modifications that improve ease of use and reliability, it is outfitted with a powerful scope, a laser sight, and a suppressor. It's one downfall is it's limited ammunition; there's only five rounds per magazine. '''AM D114: '''Quiet's sidearm is a Arms Material Delta-114 Combat Pistol, which is essentially a combination between the M1911, the Browning Hi-Power, and the CZ-75. The end result is a moderately powerful handgun with a magazine of seven rounds of .45 ACP. Quiet never actually uses her pistol during the events of ''The Phantom Pain, but she does use similar weapons with great accuracy, so we can assume that she's just as skilled with it as any other gun. '''Frag and Stun Grenades: '''Especially useful for covering her when she's changing sniping locations, Quiet carries a couple grenades on her belt. One of her more unique tactics with her is to use her superhuman speed to rush up to an opponent, drop a grenade at their feet, and flee as the grenade explodes, disorienting and/or wounding her enemy and leaving them vulnerable to Quiet's rifle. '''Combat Knife: '''And for last resort, Quiet has a standard combat knife. Even when she was still a human, she was very handy with knives, and the same is true as a Skull. She knows how to use it effectively and efficiently, but she can also be extremely brutal with it when angered... |-|Abilities= QuietRagdollsSoldiers.gif QuietParasiteDash.gif QuietInvisibility.gif QuietKillsSoldiers.gif QuietSnipesPilot.gif '''Skull Physicality: '''The parasites Quiet was infected with to save her life turned her into a unique type of Skull, one of XOF's superhuman soldiers. While she lacks the outlandish archaea abilities of other Skulls, she instead gained vastly improved strength, reflexes, and durability. She is strong enough to kill a man with a single kick to the chest, and send soldiers flying with casual shoves. She's tough enough to survive a grenade, a later a tank shell, exploding right in front of her, although the latter did knock her out for a few minutes. As for reflexes and agility, she can jump a dozen feet in the air and evade gunfire. But what's uniquely impressive is her enhanced eyes; her vision is so sharp that she can see each blade of a helicopter, and each of her eyes operate independently, allowing her to see in multiple directions at once, so she can aim her rifle with one eye while watching her surroundings with the other. '''Parasite Abilities: '''Like the other Skulls, Quiet can change her body into a gaseous substance, which allows her to travel at speeds high enough for her to leave afterimages for a few dozen meters in any direction. The two downsides of this are that she can only do it in bursts, and at least one second must pass before she can do it again, and that it makes a lot of noise. Additionally, Quiet can turn her entire body invisible at will. However, Quiet has never been seen using a gun or any other weapon while invisible, leading me to believe that she cannot, or she simply chooses not to. '''Martial Artist: '''Quiet does have some skill in hand-to-hand combat, but she seems to rely mostly on her superhuman abilities to use it effectively. Against Venom Snake, a highly skilled CQC user, without using her full powers, Quiet was subdued relatively easily, showing that there are clear limits to her skill. '''Master Markswoman: '''Thanks to her superhuman perception of space, Quiet can pull off incredible feats of accuracy with almost any kind of firearm. Most notably, she could fire a revolver through the spinning blades of a helicopter, precisely redirect thrown grenades by shooting them, and kill the pilot of a fighter jet with a rifle, while both the jet and the helicopter she was on board were flying at top speed and performing evasive maneuvers. '''Photosynthesis: '''A final effect of the parasites caused Quiet to have photosynthetic properties, much like her predecessor, the End. She needs nothing but water and sunlight to survive, and she breathes through her skin. If her skin is covered too much, she will suffocate, and she will weaken if deprived of sunlight for too long. X-Factors '''Experience Thanks to her slowed aging, Natasha is well over ninety years old, and has had an extremely long career as both a spy and a superhero. She's been a member of dozens of superhero teams, even leading the Avengers and the Thunderbolts one two occasions. She's taken on just about every comic book enemy you can imagine, ranging from assassins, mercenaries, mutants, ninjas, robots, and other heroes, like Hawkeye, the Punisher, and even some of the evil versions of Captain America. Next to nothing is known about Quiet's time as an assassin for XOF, except for the fact that she was experienced and skilled enough to be chosen for the mission to assassinate Big Boss. After her transformation into a Skull, she was only active for a few months before her disappearance. Her initial mission was to assassinate certain dissenting Soviet officers, and after defecting to Diamond Dogs she accompanied him on his frequent missions in Afghanistan and central Africa. Tactics Hand-to-hand combat is almost always the first thing Black Widow tries when a combat situation arises. Whether it's because she's confident in her close-combat abilities or because she wants to test the waters and see what she's dealing with before planning her next move, hand-to-hand is where she starts. After that, if she can't knock her foe out with her martial arts skills, she'll apply her gadgets where appropriate. Firearms is usually a last resort, only using them if she needs to attack from a very long distance or she's outnumbered and outgunned. When operating solo, Quiet frequently holds back from using the full power of her powers, preferring to initially stick with pure sniper tactics, attacking from a distance with her rifle, and relocating when she's discovered. She can even be quite arrogant in this state, turning on her laser sight to give away her position and taunt her opponent into trying to find her. However, once angered, Quiet becomes much more savage, using a combination of weaponry and brutal hand-to-hand moves to eliminate her enemies, while also using her frightening abilities of speed and invisibility for psychological tactics. Training As I've already stated, the training from the Red Room that Natasha went through was brutal. Its students were heavily trained from childhood in martial arts, use of weapons, and assassination techniques to make them into the deadliest spies in the world. Few recruits even survived training, and it's a testament to Natasha's resolve that she came out alive. On top of that, Natasha was also trained in combat by the Wolverine, after he rescued her from the Hand. In this category, Quiet again suffers from a lack of backstory. XOF training is tough, especially for a high-ranking assassin like Quiet was. But as a Skull, considering the short time frame between the failed assassination of Big Boss and Quiet's appearance in Afghanistan, she likely had only a short time to master her new Skull abilities, but it was plenty to make her an incredibly deadly opponent for both the Red Army and Venom Snake. Notes *Black Widow is as she appears prior to the beginning of Secret Wars. *The battle takes place in an abandoned city, like those "ghost cities" in China. *Voting ends whenever. *About how the Widow's Kiss will affect Quiet: Quiet is quite resistant to aerosol-based weapons, and she can take even heavy bombardments of Venom Snake's sleeping gases before being affected, so it can be assumed that it'll take a much heavier dose than normal to knock her out. Additionally, there's the question of whether or not Black Widow can get close enough to use it. Battle Venom Snake surveyed his surroundings from his place perched on the edge of the helicopter, watching the billowing clouds of sand and dust that formed around the chopper as it touched down in the middle of the weathered mountain pass. He had operated in the area dozens of times before, but the landscape was unrecognizable to him now. The series of powerful sandstorms that had devastated the region for the past three weeks had destroyed well-traveled roads and buried large lengths of rivers, remaking the land into into a living hell for the inhabitants. Half of the city of Puli Khumri, which was situated at the foot of the mountain range, was now engulfed in sand dunes. Many who did not have the means to evacuate before the worst of the storms hit were now buried alive. Even more were trapped, having no means of escape before the next storm arrived to finish them off. Among those caught in the path of the coming storm was a certain mujahid, who carried information that was critical to the efforts against the Soviets' Red Army. That was why Diamond Dogs was there. The voice of Kazuhira Miller, Diamond Dogs' XO, crackled through Snake's radio as he gathered up his equipment: "Remember, Boss, the mission objective is only the intel the mujahid's carrying, but if you have the opportunity to extract him and his associates, I'm sure your conscience will tell you what to do. And besides, I'm sure we could make use of people with skills like theirs." Snake slung his M2000-D rifle over his back, clipped his AM MRS-4 to his belt, performed a quick brass check on his Windurger No.2 pistol, and finally dropped off the edge of the chopper, sending up a burst of fine dust as his boots hit the ground. He then pulled out his iDroid, his state-of-the-art PDA, and saw an image of the mujahid he would be hunting for and the details of his approximate location appear on the device's holographic screen. Behind him, the chopper began to gain altitude. Venom turned around to watch it ascend, and saw his sniper and close companion, Quiet, who had been clinging onto the outer railing of the helicopter since the start of the descent, let go and fall to the ground in a cloud of black mist. A showoff, as always. The pair then began their trek down the mountainside towards Puli Khumri. The path that had formerly been used for this journey had been destroyed in the very first of the sandstorms, so they improvised, with Snake carefully hiking down the rocky slopes, while Quiet rapidly dashed between peaks and cliffs, keeping a careful watch for any potential threats. At last they reached the edge of the final cliff, from which Puli Khumri was visible. It was pitiful to look at; the roads were filled with sand, and entire districts had been buried. Venom's thoughts on the nightmare that the city's residents must be living through were interrupted by another call on his radio. This time, the voice's owner was Revolver Ocelot, the head of Diamond Dogs' intel team. "Boss, we have word that the Soviet spec ops operatives that we were warned about have been spotted in the area. You ought to pick up the pace. We can't let them find the target before you do." As soon as Ocelot finished, an audio cue from the iDroid came from Snake's earpiece. "Map info updated," the robotic voice said, in its usual emotionless, clinical tone. Snake leaned against a rock formation and took the iDroid out again. This time, he selected an intel report notification, and was shown several photographs of the operatives in question, taken by the HUMINT team. The were numerous and well-equipped; most uniquely, Venom counted three sniper-spotter pairs and four Walker Gears - the Soviets' solo-operated, bipedal tanks - controlled by pilots in heavy battle dress. There was no subtlety here; the Russians' goal was to intimidate through show of force, and to gun down anyone who got in their way with extreme prejudice. But what was most concerning, was the presence of a red-haired, black-clad woman among them. In all his months of combat against the might of the USSR, Venom had never seen a woman on any Spetsnaz or KGB teams, let alone one with such a unique uniform. The black bodysuit should've been an awful choice of attire for the blazing Afghan heat, but she hardly appeared bothered by it as she addressed the unit with a steely-eyed expression. "You noticed the woman, Snake?" Apparently, Kaz was interested by this as well. "We don't have an explanation for you now. We first spotted her on one of the Russian choppers with the rest of the unit, and I've gotten in touch with some of my contacts, but they don't know any more than we do. We're in the dark on this one, Boss. Keep your wits about you." Snake tuned his radio into Quiet's channel. "Quiet, head to the east and locate the Soviets. Keep me updated on their movements. Do not engage unless I give the order." The ever-silent sniper's only response was a simple affirmative grunt, but that was enough for Snake. He spied Quiet on a rocky outcropping above him, and a sound like a grenade going off was heard as she dissipated into black mist and streaked across the sky. Snake watched through his int-scope as she descended and re-materialized just outside the outskirts of the city. With her superhuman eyesight, she saw Snake clearly even from such a distance, and waved at him, before disappearing from the visible spectrum. ... Captain Yulian Belov had never felt quite so intimidated in his life. His rank in the Spetsnaz, wealth in experience in numerous missions, and his possession of the Order of the Red Star for his service in the Ogaden War had earned him great respect from inferiors and superiors alike, but none of that seemed to matter in the presence of the fiery-haired, stone-faced woman that had superseded him in command of the detachment, on direct order from the MVD. Romanov was her name. Belov knew the woman's history, or at least, the parts that the KGB allowed to be known. She was the greatest product of a secret government project to produce superhuman soldiers and assassins, which had formed her into a remorseless and unstoppable killer. Supposedly, she had defected to the Americans years ago, but if that were true, and Belov was fairly certain it was, she was now fully recommitted to the cause of Soviet supremacy. Brainwashing, mind control drugs, there were dozens of possibilities as to how the KGB would bring such an effective operative back over to their side. Belov hadn't discussed the subject with his men - he knew the woman would report anything and everything to her superiors - but they likely knew as much as he did. They all shook in their boots whenever she so much as made eye contact with them. Belov awoke three hours before sunrise on the third day of the mission. He crawled out of his bivouac shelter to find none other than Romanov standing above him. He scrambled to attention as quickly as he could. Glancing around, by the expressions of the night shift soldiers, he could tell that Romanov had been awake all night. “Captain Belov. We split up here," she asserted in her usual cold, emotionless tone. "You will lead the Walker units and their support to the northeast. I will take the rest to the target's location. If they flee, you will be prepared to intercept them. Understood?” “Understood, madam.” Belov watched as Romanov called her newly-formed squad to her and departed from the provisional camp. As soon as they were out of sight, he mounted his own Walker Gear and led his team out into the cold of the desert night. ... The scope of Wicked Butterfly was fixed on the group of Soviet soldiers as its wielder tracked their every move. Her inhuman vision combined with the powerful telescopic sight gave her a perfect image of the group, to the point where she could identify the weapons they carried, as they traversed the . While her right eye focused on the scope, her left eye moved independently, watching a group of four Walker Gears and accompanying infantry moving in a different direction. Meanwhile, deep within the ruined city, Venom slipped a film canister that the mujahid had given him into his waist pack. “Target secured. Great work, Snake,” Kaz remarked over the radio. “Think you’ll be able to get those guys out of there?” Two members of the mujahid's group were injured. He instructed one of the men who did not carry a weapon to lift the less-critical of the two wounded - his Pashto was rusty, but enough to get by - and heaved the other onto his own back. He allowed the group to exit the crumbling sandstone building through the hole he had made via breach grenade in a weak section of the walls, while he checked his iDroid for updates from Quiet. The news he got wasn't good: the Soviets had split into two groups and were preparing to surround them. The team inside the city would drive them out, and the Walker Gears would chase them down once they were in the open. Their only chance was to eliminate one of these two components. "Quiet!" Venom shouted through his radio. "Open fire on the squad in the city! Delay them as long as you can!" Quiet's answer was her trademark humming, the tune that had become the song of death for Diamond Dogs' enemies. ... The peaceful scenery of the soft winds carrying clouds of sand through the abandoned streets was ended in less than a second, when the head of Romanov's point man exploded in front of her. The squad immediately scattered like roaches, each man diving for the closest cover. One of the spotters wasn't fast enough, and took another silenced bullet straight through the abdomen. He shrieked in pain, and begged for his comrades to help him, but the hardened Spetsnaz ignored his screams. The sniper was using him as bait, by shooting him in a spot perfect for causing extreme pain, but also ensuring he wouldn't bleed out for a long time. The first man to expose himself to aid his fallen friend would would have their head perforated, just like the point man. It was a trick the mujahideen had used many times against the invaders. Staying close to the ground, Romanov quickly dash through the open street from the shed she had instinctively taken cover in over to the house where the majority of her team were hiding in. Just as she opened her mouth to whisper orders to begin counter-sniping tactics to them, she heard the sound of a bullet ricocheting off of something metal and cutting through the air as it flew towards her head. Romanov's superhuman reflexes allowed her to duck out of the way just in time as the bullet flew into the building through an open window, but the soldiers in front of her weren't so lucky. The round tore straight through one's throat, and continued on to strike the shoulder of another, shattering the bone on impact. Clearly, even cover couldn't save them from this sniper. Everyone in the building dropped to the ground, laying in prone position to make themselves the smallest targets as possible. Romanov gave each survivor their orders, giving them positions to take to flush out the sniper as soon as possible. "Zaytsev, give me your rifle!" she demanded. A frightened spotter slid his AK-47 across the wooden floor to her. She took it. "I will run interference. Move to your positions as soon as I open fire." The soldiers nodded. Romanov sprinted back out of the house to the place she had been when the shooting started. There were no gunshot from the sniper to speak of, so she relied on her memory of watching the bullets' trajectory as they ran for cover. She raised the AK towards her predicted location and pulled the trigger, but she immediately realized that the sniper was not there. A few hurried glances around later, it was clear that the sniper was no longer in the area. Her enhanced eyes would not betray her. Then came a shout from the opposite side of the house. "Laser!" she heard one of her men shout, before the sound of a human skull splitting open rang out, and then another. Romanov dashed back into the house and found an even more unnerving sight: the soldier with the wounded shoulder now had a bullet hole in the middle of his forehead. Outside the front door, she could see two more bodies. In addition with the sounds she had heard earlier, this meant that all her men were dead. She was alone with the sniper. ... Quiet lowered her rifle, frustrated by the stubbornness of her final target. In her experience, even the most hardened soldiers would eventually crack after watching their comrades get picked off one by one, but the red-haired woman was unwavering. Quiet slung her rifle over her shoulder, now determined to meet her enemy head on, if she would not reveal herself. She turned invisible, and dropped off the edge of the building she had been sniping from. Prowling carefully through the streets, she silently opened doors and windows, searching each building for signs of her quarry. Upon leaving a stable, she noticed a golden disk affixed to a wall. By the time she realized what it was, it was too late. The disk exploded violently, taking out a huge chunk of the wall it was mounted on and sending Quiet sprawling across the sand, her invisibility reflexively deactivating. Category:Blog posts